RECORDINGS

HAYDN. String Quartets Op.64,5, 76,2 & 77,1

Here are three of the greatest quartets of Haydn's maturity, all dating from the decade of the 1790s when he was the world's most famous composer.

The 'Lark' shows him at his most lyrical, the 'Fifths' at his most intellectually formidable, while his penultimate completed quartet, op.77/1, with its deeply moving Adagio, is a fitting culmination to his peerless output in the genre.